After waking up and taking on some clothes, I walked out of my room and met my father at the table. He looked up from his plate and showed me a huge grin.

"Are you prepared to be beaten to death? I won't go easy on you now."

"Can't say I'm confident, but a first have to come for everything."

"Talking big, huh? Well, I have some things to attend to first, so I will go when I'm done with that. Take your time, loser."

"Who is the adult here actually...?"

"Your mother."

Despite talking like this, both of us were just joking around and showing a wry smile to each other. After this small talk, I went out on the backdoor to the well and drew up a bucket of water. I washed my face to freshen myself up before taking my leave to the village.

—¦—

As I walked down the village dirt roads, someone greeted me from behind.

"Kanda, my boy. A little early today, aren’t you? Care to help an old fellow?"

"Of course, Gustav. What do you need help with?"

"There's two heavier boxes in here and my health isn't like it used to be anymore. The apothecary is out of the village now and I'm afraid I might hurt my back, you see."

"No problem then, I can help with that. Just lead the way where to put it down."

With that, I went into his storage in the back, put the boxes on each other and picked them up. It was full to the brim with apples, so I could see why Old Gustav was cautious that he might hurt his back.

"I can always count on you, Kanda. It's good to have such a helpful youngster around the village. Not many wakes up so early. Going to train today as well?"

“You can say that, yes.”

“Hm. What say you come back later in the afternoon? I plan to make apple pies today with ma. You can take some home.”

Knowing how tasty Miss Aurelia’s pies usually are, my mouth started watering up just by hearing that. Yet, a sad feeling ran through me.

“I think it might not be possible.”

Old Gustav stopped in his steps for a second to look at me, then started walking again.

"Did something happen? I beat the hell out of that father of yours if he did something."

"Ah, no-no. Nothing like that. It's just..."

"It's just...?"

I tried to come up with a way to tell him that I might leave to the capital, but I didn't want to burden him by the thought that I will actually fight my father. I thought he might misunderstand the situation and actually come to our place to try and beat him up for real.

"...I think you can say an opportunity arrived to leave the village for the capital for certain reasons. Yet I don't know what to think of it. I didn't have much time to think about it, everything came all too sudden, too fast and I might or might not be here tomorrow. Ultimately everything is up to me to decide. I fear I might make the wrong decision."

"We are here, just put it down somewhere."

I put the boxes of apples on the small table just outside Gustav’s shop and separated them so Gustav didn’t have to.

"I can only say one thing for certain, boy..." started Gustav with a serious face. “...you are young. Very much so. At your age, I was most likely still holding onto my mother’s skirt as shy as I was. But even for me, the time has come to make decisions that could change my life upside down. I think you should just do what you want and something will turn out of it. Maybe something bad, but you can learn from that. No one born wise. You can trip once or twice, no problem. But you should always remember one thing. Never forget that when you think everything is lost, you are not alone. We are here and remain here. You have a family to support you. And you will always have a place in this village. I guarantee that."

"Gustav..." I wanted to say something, but my mouth opened and no word came out of it. I tried to form it into words what warmth I felt at the moment in my chest, but I couldn't do it, until one simple gesture came out of me instead "...thank you."

"Hmpf, don't soften up now, at least wait until I don't see you around anymore. It saddens me that you can’t taste my pie, but so be it. Here, take these. As thanks for the boxes. Now go, I have a business to run."

With that, he put two apples into my hands.

"Ah, thank you. I'm going then."

I turned away and taken a few steps before I stopped and turned around.

"If... If we don't meet again in the foreseeable future... Thank you for everything you did for me and my family."

I know he did a lot for my parents when I was younger, so I bowed a bit in respect of him. As I looked up, I saw him just waving his hand with his back to me, but on the side, I saw a small smile growing on his wrinkly face. I turned my back to him again.

After a good amount of time going here and there in the village, greeting people who are going to do their fair share of work for the day, I got out of the village and into the nearby forest.

"Oh? So early, Konda?"

"Kanda. Eh, nevermind."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I didn't even have to look there to know who I walked into.

—¦—

After we coincidentally met up on the way, we walked to the usual riverbed where I trained and sat down, taking in the fresh weather while waiting for my father to arrive. In the meantime, we ate the apples that I got from Gustav.

"More importantly, what are you doing here even earlier than me?" I asked from Leyna, who now that I remembered wasn't sleeping on the floor this morning.

"Just this and that. Felt like cleaning myself in the river."

"...in the river?" I asked questioningly.

"What? I can't?" she retorted.

"No, I just found it weird. Why not at the house? You could have just used the washbasin like us. Pretty sure you could have just used magic to heat up the water from the well or something."

"You don't understand anything, do you?" she looked at me with judging eyes.

"You think so?" I was a bit lost on what I should have understood.

"Just think about it. A lone girl taking a bath in the river. Her beautiful, long hair sways in the gentle, morning breeze as she slowly cleans all of her being. Her fine, delicate body oozing femininity as she caresses herself, feeling a little cold in the morning water. She twitches a little as her hands touch her smooth, fair skin. Don't you think it's kinda romantic if you think about it this way?"

As she told this vivid scene, she started hugging herself just like the girl in her fantasies, looking at me with a... very weird expression that I can't even describe what it might reminds me of.

"No. No, I don't think so, Miss Body-of-a-Ten-Years-Old."

"You're such a bummer. Thought you might be like Boro and can be teased with these, but it seems like you are more levelheaded. You might have taken that after your mother."

Honestly, it might be her fault with how she behaves, but she feels like more of an older sister to me. For my age, my height could be said to be average, but she is still higher than me. She also has nice, long legs that compliments her straight posture well, but I guess that can’t be said about other parts of her body that might ooze that aforementioned “femininity.” In short, she was kind of a plank.

"You mean my father was easy to tease? Honestly doesn't seem like that to me. He can always make a comeback to anything I say."

"Hahah. If you knew what I know about that little Boro, you couldn't look straight into his eyes anymore without breaking into an unstoppable laughter."

"For example?" I listened eagerly.

"What do you see me for, ratting out a war buddy so easily?"

"Ehehe... ah... and what would you have done if someone actually comes by and sees you?"

"Beat the shit out of him..." she answered back without hesitation, but a smile appeared on her face right after. "Just kidding, I would have done nothing. It's just a body, some flesh and more after all, not to even mention it's the body off Miss Body-of-a-Ten-Years-Old as well."

Leyna looked directly into my eyes with a big grin on her face, then sit up and started walking around the side of the riverbed with open arms, looking at her foot as she made one step after another.

"I guess it’s not true about short lived races like you humans, but if you live long enough, you start to become somewhat insensitive to certain things. Think about it from the perspective of an elf, one that lives hundreds of years if not thousands. After a while, their body never grows further. Remains constant for centuries. Some might envy it. Either the beauty that comes with it or the longevity of it. But living so long can be a bitter and lonesome life..."

She looked around before her, swing her right leg back and kicked a rock straight into the middle of the river, seemingly randomly.

"Either way, I don't want to talk about this kind of heavy topic so early in the morning, more so to a sheltered country bumpkin who doesn't even know how the world is yet. Instead, did you think about it? You fight your father for your own reasons but didn't say a clear answer directly to me yet." She stopped and looked at me seriously. "What do you want to do with yourself? I asked for your help, but that's something you do out of the goodness of your heart. Ultimately, that's my problem to deal with. Once that's solved, you have yourself to think about. I don't want to drag you away from home and then leave you alone without nothing to do and nowhere to go. Did you choose a hinge for yourself already? A goal in life?”

From the sudden change of topic and the question in hand, I looked down at my foot and fallen deep into my thoughts for a long moment. Leyna patiently waited for me to think, she let me slowly connect everything that happened in this short amount of time in my brain to get to my own conclusion. After a long minute...

"I honestly don't know. I lived all my life in this village, with my parents, with people I love and care about."

She looked kind of puzzled for a second, but still had her serious and composed expression on her face.

"But..." I stood up and looked directly into her lapis blue eyes, with determination in mine. "But someone I care about said to me to do what I want. It might be selfish to some. It might hurt others. Maybe it will hurt even me as well. But until now, I only followed others. I decided that I want to make my own choices. I don't know what awaits me after I'm going with you. As you said, I'm just a country bumpkin who knows nothing about the real world. But I'm curious. I want to know more about you. I want to learn more about the world you live in. So please, take me with you. Take this know-nothing fool."

After saying everything that came to mind, telling her about all that was in me, I remained in eye contact and walked in front of her. Then I held out my hand.

She closed her eyes, her serious face slowly relaxed and when she opened her eyes again, a soft, relieved expression brightened her face. She grabbed my hand and shook it.

"Maybe I was wrong and you didn't actually took after your mother. You're just as dumb as your father. Might not sound like one, but personally, I mean that as a compliment. I take the deal, but I don't want to hear even a single whining or you can go wherever you want for all I care."

"Of course."

"It's a promise, then..."

—¦—

"Waited long enough?"

"Kinda, but don't worry Boro. I got reeeaal friendly with Konda here while you were away."

"Oh, really...?"

My father arrived at last, while Leyna was clinging on me to show her affection towards me in a way to tease my father. I think.

"Well, I really hope you picked up that confidence you missed in the morning along the way, because I wouldn't hold back. It was a long time ago that I could loosen my muscles and now I'm aching for a real fight. Do you think you can give me that?"

"Yes, I can."

I said no more. I know my father well, he doesn't want me to tell him my feelings, like Leyna. He wants demonstration.

"Here, take it."

He dropped a wooden sword in my way and I caught it. For some reason, it felt heavier than what I remembered simple wooden swords be.

"Then I prepare some basic enhancement on the swords, let's not break them, shall we?"

We went to opposite sides of the riverbed and waited for Leyna to be done with her preparations and start the fight for us. I looked at my father, who looked back at me. He was smiling like usual, yet I felt an immensely powerful aura radiating from him. We fought numerous times, yet I had never seen my father this battle ready. He was taunting me. At this moment I realized actually why am I here for today.

I thought I am here to get permission to go with Leyna, so I can explore the world with her. But I was a naive fool indeed. I was thinking about this the wrong way.

The fact that I’m standing here at this moment means I already made my choice that I can’t take back. I made my decision, so now because of that, the biggest obstacle that could be in my way stands there proudly, which could single handedly decide my future. Yes.

"Okay, so rules. If someone gets pinned to the ground, that's a win. If someone brings in a strike, that's also a win. Sounds simple enough? Then... go!"

This was actually my first adventure.